


cat and mouse

by alateni



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Kang Seulgi is mentioned because I love Red Velvet, M/M, Model!AU, Multi, a little bit of smut, another OT4 fic from me but from another universe whoops, but not a lot because idk how to write smut, im a smol bean, makeup artist!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 13:51:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10280000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alateni/pseuds/alateni
Summary: He hated how this was always how things went. One of them, according to their games rules, would always lay first claim, but in the end, everyone would join in. Minghao would be lying though, if he said he wasn’t fond of it. He never liked to leave people out after all, he had too much experience being the third wheel back when he was a kid, but he hated how it was always him at the butt of the joke, or, in this case, being teased.Alternatively: Minghao is just trying to do his job. Wonwoo, Junhui, and Mingyu think he should pay attention to them instead.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This idea has been sticking in my head for quite some time so I'm glad to get it out.
> 
> Also someone help me figure out how to write endings and summaries because honestly I suffer every time I have to do any of them.

“I hate how they make us do this,” Minghao grumbles, mostly to himself, but loud enough for his co-worker, Seulgi, to hear him. She smirks at the comment, shrugging in response, before raising her end of the banner higher.

“Is this good?” Seulgi asks, straining to keep it level as Minghao frowns. The skinny boy motions for her to lower it down slightly, before nodding and pushing a thumbtack into the material to keep it in place. As Seulgi does the same, Minghao climbs down the ladder he was on before some other staff member took it away.

“Honestly, I have nimble fingers but literally no arm strength,” Minghao sighs, slightly out of breath but trying very hard to hide that fact.

“Nimble fingers huh?” Seulgi smirks, winking at Minghao. “I’m sure they’ll like that.”

“Oh shut up,” Minghao rolls his eyes, though he can’t help the slight flush that makes its way onto his cheeks. Laughing at that, Seulgi throws a hand over Minghao before dragging the younger boy towards their workstations.

Arriving at his designated chair, Minghao’s fingers scurry over the various makeup supplies and products he had open. Taking count of the various eyeliner pencils and moisturizers, Minghao nods after affirming to himself that they were all there. It was slightly tedious, but ever since one of the hairstyling staffs took his best BB cream puffs Minghao had never been the same. Even if he left his station for a couple of seconds to get some water, the Chinese male would always do a head count when he got back – he wasn’t going to lose another soldier to the greedy hands of another staff member.

“Hey Minghao,” Seulgi calls, and Minghao looks up to glance at Seulgi, who was standing by her own workspace – directly beside Minghao’s. To Minghao’s right was the end of the line, something he requested because he was prone to accidentally whacking people when he was too focused, and since he held seniority (and skill) over most of the other makeup artists, he always called dibs on it. Seulgi, though older and more experienced than Minghao, was always content with letting Minghao claim his spot – knowing that the younger boy liked things a specific way, and if something or someone messed it up, the male would be off center the whole day.

“What’s up?” Minghao asks, rubbing at a stain on the counter. He frowns as the substance refuses to budge, but before he can grab a cloth and try again, Seulgi speaks up and brings his attention away from the tabletop.

“Did you see who was supposed to come today?” Seulgi tilts her head to the side, fox shaped eyes glinting with amusement and mirth. “The roster sheet was posted up the other day, but I think you were still in Japan then.”

“Don’t even _start_ with Japan,” Minghao sighs, rubbing at his temple. “Just thinking about that photoshoot is enough to give me grey hairs. Honestly, what were they thinking? Only hiring three makeup artists for an entourage of ten models?”

“Yes, yes,” Seulgi laughs, tilting her head back. Minghao watches her pretty brown hair cascade down her shoulders, and the Chinese male once again wonders why Seulgi didn’t become a model herself (something about dieting she always told him, but Minghao thinks Seulgi would have made a pretty beautiful plus size model if things ever got that far). “I know, terrible management and even shittier food, we’ve been over this.”

“Then why bring it up?” Minghao replies crossly. Seulgi merely smiles at this, the well-tempered female used to Minghao’s huffy ways. While most of the other artists at the company hated to work with Minghao despite his talent and renown skill because of his, as Seulgi called it, ‘insufferable’ personality, Seulgi seemed to never be affected by it. Actually, Minghao frowns as he thinks about it, he never really understood why people disliked him.

“Why are you frowning?” Seulgi raises an eyebrow, pointedly staring at the slight downturn of Minghao’s lips.

“Why do you think people don’t like me?” Minghao asks, knowing it was useless to lie to Seulgi. Her gaze held to it a particularly smoldering quality, something that made you always want to tell the truth, as if she had the power to tell you were lying just by looking you in the eyes.

“Well,” Seulgi looks down at her nails. “There’s the whole fact that you’re kind of young and not even that experienced but you still made it to the top of the food chain within months of joining the company. Lots of the artists here don’t really like you for that, but that’s really the big reason.”

“You always say it’s because of your personality,” Seulgi continues. “But I don’t think that’s true either. You’re not that bad to hang out with, and you’re really only sassy to people you know. The first two months I talked to you, you were the cutest, most precious thing in the world – oh how I miss those days. So it’s definitely not that.”

“Then what is it?” Minghao sighs. “And my personality is more than just being sassy.”

“True,” Seulgi points at Minghao with understanding. “You’re a pretty good person honestly, which is why, like I said before, that’s not the main reason people don’t like you. Honestly,” Seulgi pauses, tapping her chin in thought. “I think people just don’t know how to approach you or what to think about you, so they avoid you.”

“That sounds like a shit reason,” Minghao scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Hey, think about it,” Seulgi offers. “You’re polite to your elders and people you don’t know, pretty respectful to everyone, teasing to friends but still supportive, pretty normal, right?” Minghao nods. “But that’s only because I know you fully, so I can connect all of that. Everyone else only knows you through little snapshots – kind of like Great Gatsby-esque.”

“What does that even mean?” Minghao asks, totally confused. “So people don’t know how to react to me, because they only know me through rumours, and that causes them to dislike me?”

“Think of it like this,” Seulgi says, plopping down into Minghao’s chair. “If you didn’t really know someone, what’s your first thought of them? Most of the time, people are judgemental towards those they don’t know – it’s kind of like a defense mechanism. Always assume the worst so you are always pleasantly surprised you know? And if things work out the way you thought, you get to claim that you knew that all along.”

“So like, apply that to people. You don’t know this individual very well, from what you _do_ know, you just know they’re very skilled at a certain talent. Some people don’t like them because of that, while others don’t care. At the same time, you constantly get distorted stories and images of them. You see them helping a grandmother across the street. Then you see them yelling at someone who got their coffee order wrong. However, you have never actually directly met this person, so you don’t know how all these different versions of the _same_ person fit together. What would your response to that be?”

“Uh,” Minghao blinks, trying to follow along with Seulgi’s philosophy. “I don’t know?”

“Exactly,” Seulgi nods. “There isn’t enough information to make a correct educated guess, so that brings us back to square one – that individual becomes an unknown. And what do humans do to unknowns? They treat them as the worst case scenario – leading to people seeming to ‘hate’ you, you follow?”

“Okay but what about those who see more good or bad qualities of me?” Minghao presses. “Like if someone sees me helping others more while another sees me being angry more? Would they still come to the same conclusion?”

“That also depends on that person’s personality,” Seulgi musses. “Maybe if they were a considerate person they wouldn’t care and just think that you’re always having a bad day, but if they’re more judgemental, no matter how many times they see you being nice, that one bad memory will always stick in their minds. At the end of the day though, I think things average out to the whole unknown problem I talked about first.”

“Interesting,” Minghao nods.

“You didn’t really understand any of that did you?” Seulgi laughs when Minghao sheepishly nods. “It’s okay, just know that people don’t know what to think about you so their opinion isn’t really solid – don’t worry about it.”

“You know noona,” Minghao says as Seulgi gets out of his spot just as the main manager walks into the room and shouts at everyone to get ready – the photoshoot was starting soon and the first batch of models had just arrived. “You should have gone into philosophy or something, maybe even teaching.”

“That was plan two actually,” Seulgi says, causing Minghao’s mouth to widen considerably.

“Really?” the boy’s eyebrows shot up at the thought of Seulgi being a teacher. While the girl was generally nice enough to the younger workers and interns, she held within her a certain fierceness and fire that Minghao just couldn’t image a school could contain.

“Hell no, I hate kids,” Seulgi laughs and winks before Minghao scoffs and the first model drops herself into Minghao’s chair.

 

 

“New here?” Minghao offers a quick smile at the anxious young boy that sits down gently in his chair before shaking the toner bottle in his hands. The boy – Minghao could barely call him a teenager – nods, before craning his head to look around. Seulgi was currently out for a break, though a model was dozing in her chair. The once clean tabletop in front of Minghao was a wreck, various powders and lotions were open, there were residual powder and dust all over his other products, and Minghao was pretty sure he had spilled some of his best serum an hour ago.

Regardless, he was no less for wear, unlike the various other artists and models running around him. The photoshoot had already been going on for two hours now, yet Minghao had seen two models and a hairstylist faint from exhaustion – amateurs. Currently, there were a good four models wandering around the makeup area, seemingly looking for something but mostly just trying to function with two hours of sleep. The makeup artists themselves were a flurry of activity, from chattering with the models to keep them awake to skillfully applying makeup, it was the exact definition of organized chaos.

Next to Minghao’s area was where the hairstylists were set up, and the sounds of at least five hairdryers turning on at the same time was enough to make Minghao kiss his teeth in annoyance. Nevertheless, though Minghao had to narrowly dodge a scarf being thrown over someone’s shoulder and into his face, Minghao enjoyed the thrum of activity. There was something about being in an environment where everyone was working and accomplishing something that fueled Minghao. It made him want to try harder, to resist the urge to stop and rest and continue to apply eyeliner here, fix up someone’s mascara, and then go back to clearing another model’s face and starting again with a different theme in mind.

To Minghao, makeup wasn’t art. Lots of makeup artists considered their craft something akin to painting, in creating masterpieces out of people’s faces. In Minghao’s opinion, that wasn’t why he liked to put makeup on people. To Minghao, makeup was a tool. It brought out the beauty in people’s faces, in their aura’s, their personalities and character. It didn’t _make_ people beautiful, the beauty already existed within them. All Minghao did was help bring it out, accentuate a feature here, brush up a line there, and clear away the insecurities and doubts that usually clouded one’s natural beauty.

“Are things,” Minghao’s attention is brought back to the real world as the younger model in front of him begins speaking. “Usually this rushed?”

“This isn’t rushed,” Minghao replies, laughing a bit as he finishes applying the last of the lotion. “This is honestly pretty calm, you should see how things are during a live catwalk – _that’s_ rushed.” Putting the bottle away, Minghao picks up a BB cream, opening the bottle and comparing it to the model’s skin tone, before shaking his head and picking another one.

“Oh,” the model says, eyes wide in surprise.

“Listen kid,” Minghao grins, “this is just a yearly thing. What do they call it again? I can’t remember.”

“Annual evaluation,” the model supplies, and Minghao nods, not really caring.

“Yeah, that,” Minghao continues, grabbing a puff to apply the cream. “So, they make you up, take pretty pictures, and then they send those shots off to any company that wants to use you. It’s not much, we don’t even really have to do that much work – unless you’re specifically going for a specific category?”

“No?” the model replies, though his answer is more like a question.

“You don’t know what I’m talking about,” Minghao clarifies, and laughs a little helplessly when the boy nods. “God you’re so clueless. How old are you?”

“16,” the boy replies.

“Fuck,” Minghao shakes his head in wonderment. “You’re really tall.”

“Thanks, I get that a lot,” the boy cracks a grin at that, his previous awkward and nervous energy disappearing slightly. “Though everyone here is really tall.”

“It’s basically a requirement,” Minghao rolls his eyes. “Close your eyes for a second?” Minghao commands as he applies concealer to the boy’s obvious eyebags. “Awesome, now what’s your name kid?”

“Sanha,” the model replies, “Yoon Sanha.”

“Cute,” Minghao compliments offhandedly. “Okay Sanha, the person that was in this chair before you, you saw her right? With bright yellow eyeliner?” Sanha nods. “Cool, that’s Somin, she usually models for more edgier stuff, I think last year she had a contract with a circus company or some shit. That’s a specific field, so we put on different themes compared to you guys who are just here for the natural look, you feel?”

“They told me I was going to do a different look after this one though?” Sanha asks, looking up at Minghao for guidance. “Something about idols?”

“Ah, so they’re going to shove you into music video and maybe drama acting,” Minghao nods. “So, you know idols, they sometimes have cameos in their videos? Sometimes it’s an actor, most of the time it’s at trainee or another idol. Sometimes they have models though – like AKMU, God I love AKMU – anyways, so that’s what they’re probably going to make you do.”

“Oh,” Sanha nods, but from the way the kid stares down at his hands, Minghao gets the feeling that he didn’t really know what he signed up for when he accepted the contract. Poor kid, Minghao frowns as he moves onto eye makeup. He really hoped Sanha wouldn’t be eaten alive by the entertainment industry, he had seen it happen too often. Kids or teenagers with bright dreams and happy smiles reduced to shells of their previous selves, exposed to too much dieting, always being told they weren’t good enough – it was detrimental to one’s mental and physical health.

“Hey kid,” Minghao speaks up again after he’s finished with Sanha’s makeup. By then Seulgi was back at her station and fixing up a model’s hair as the hairstyling unit was overfilled. Sanha looks up, grimacing as he feels how heavy his eyelashes were now.

“Do you have a phone?” Minghao questions, and the boy nods slightly after looking around. “You’re not supposed to,” Minghao smirks when Sanha gives him a panicked look. “Company rules or whatever, but I don’t really care. Give it to me.” Sanha complies hesitantly, watching Minghao with slight apprehension, and relaxing only after Minghao hands the phone back to him.

“What did you do?” Sanha asks, unlocking the device and looking around to see if Minghao had meddled with anything.

“Put my number in and texted myself,” Minghao answers offhandedly. “If you ever have any questions or need someone else to talk to, I’m here. It’s always good to start your career with both a good company and a good circle of acquaintances. Don’t get roped into anything you don’t want to do and stay away from people who play around too much – the hard-working people will motivate you to do better okay?”

“Yes hyung!” Sanha beams as he stands up. “You know, you’re not as bad as Minhyuk hyung said you were going to be.”

“Minhyuk?” Minghao questions, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion.

“My friend, he had you last year and when he saw I was assigned to you he just told me good luck. Apparently, you were really mean and cross with him last year, but you don’t seem to bad. I like you,” Sanha declares boldly, causing Seulgi to laugh from her station.

“Don’t get too comfortable saying that Sanha ssi,” Seulgi grins. “If someone overhears you, you might find yourself in some hot water.”

“Huh?” Sanha asks, tilting his head to the side, not unlike a puppy.

“Don’t mind her,” Minghao rolls his eyes. “And go tell Minhyuk that I’m better now.”

“Alright!” Sanha cheers, previous anxiety gone as he practically skips over to the line waiting for their turn to take photos.

“See,” Seulgi says over the head of her model. “I told you, people don’t know what to think of you, but once they do they’ll like you. You just got to win them over.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Minghao says dismissively. “He reminds me of someone,” Minghao narrows his eyes as Sanha turns around one more time to wave before being sent off to a photographer.

“Really,” Seulgi drawls as the model thanks her and hurries away. “I heard that his nickname was ‘beagle’ because he’s a happy little fellow, and I can see where it comes from. He’s very puppy like.”

“And?” Minghao turns, sensing that Seulgi was hinting at something.

“I’m just saying,” Seulgi grins. “Maybe you know someone else that’s kind of like a literal pup?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Minghao huffs, before standing up and cracking his back. “Anyways, I’m going on break.”

“Is it even your time yet? You know how anal they can be about you going on breaks when it’s not your scheduled time. Actually wait, did you even answer my question before about seeing the roster list before?”

“Nope,” Minghao shrugs. “I didn’t see it. Anyways, I don’t care if it’s not my turn for break, I haven’t eaten anything or _sat down_ in like, three hours – much less relieved myself or defecated if you catch my drift.”

“Ew,” Seulgi wrinkles her nose. “Whatever, you’re going to be the one getting in trouble – not me. And I’m not going to cover for you if any model comes along saying that they’re for you.”

“Sure,” Minghao smiles. “You say that now but you love me too much to let your precious little baby get in trouble, right?”

“I hate you,” is all Minghao gets in reply, but Seulgi says it good naturedly, with a twinkle in her eye, so Minghao steps away from his station with a relaxed stride.

Minghao wanders through the station after his bathroom break, not really in hurry to get back to his chair. He had lied to Seulgi, well, partially. He _had_ checked the roster list, kind of, more like he skimmed through it. Minghao hadn’t really paid attention to the names, which he knew was what Seulgi was getting at, but he did look at the times – meaning he knew exactly how much time he had left until his next model was to find him. Unless of course, said individual felt like being a dick and came early, but then again, that wouldn’t be Minghao’s fault either. He had a set schedule and that didn’t mean he’d start earlier if you came earlier. A little pretentious, Minghao knew, but he had realized long ago that going out of his ways to do favours wouldn’t help him much in this business.

It was a dog eat dog world, even if Minghao wasn’t entirely mixed in with the entertainment industry. He was more like a lurker, hovering around the edges, but sometimes, it’s those that observe that see just how horrible things could get. Minghao didn’t blame people for wanting to become celebrities though, there was a certain amount of pride and happiness that could come out of it – he knew first hand – but at the same time, it ruined more people than it helped.

“Look who I found,” a voice sings, causing Minghao to jolt forwards. The skinny boy practically screams as he feels an arm grab onto his shoulder, though he relaxes slightly when he recognizes the voice. As his mind catches up to his instincts however, he tenses back up and rips his shoulder away from the offending arm.

“You!” Minghao says, twirling around and pointing and accusatory finger at the taller male in front of him. He was insanely good looking, attracting stares from the other staff members and models walking past, but Minghao merely glares hotly at the other boy’s smiling face.

“Yes me,” the boy grins. “I won, take that.”

“I don’t remember ever agreeing to this game,” Minghao sighs, crossing his arms over his chest and frowning as the model before him merely shrugs and takes a step forwards. Minghao considers backing away and running for it, but he knew the other male was much faster than he was and would be able to easily catch up to him. Besides, though he had never agreed to this game in the first place, he knew – from experience – that running away would just cause greater punishment.

“But you play regardless,” the tall boy laughs happily, clapping his hands together like a small child before slinging an arm protectively over Minghao’s shoulder. Leading him back towards the main set up area, Minghao finds himself smiling slightly as the Korean male talks about whatever came to mind. From lamenting about how early he had to wake up to walking his dog yesterday, Minghao never grew bored with his rambling.

“Kim Mingyu,” Seulgi whistles lowly as Minghao and Mingyu arrive back at Minghao’s station. “Looks like you won this time huh?”

“Yep,” Mingyu grins, canine teeth poking out devilishly. “Wonwoo hyung and Junhui hyung are going to be _livid_. Especially because we’re all staying in town tonight.”

“You are?” Minghao asks, craning his neck to look at Mingyu, who nods happily.

“I didn’t know you were smart enough to use words like ‘livid’ Mingyu,” comes another voice, and only now does Minghao realize there was someone sitting in his seat. Turning around, the man in the seat frowns at Minghao and Mingyu’s proximity before motioning for Minghao to come forwards. “Hey Hao, I see Seulgi was right about you not reading the roster. There’s no other way you wouldn’t have known I was going to be your model for today.”

“You’re kidding me,” Minghao sighs, rubbing his temples lightly as the man smirks, dark, fox-like eyes darkening at the gesture.

“Wonwoo hyung,” Mingyu whines, stomping his foot childishly. “That’s not fair. I won this time!”

“Not my fault the staff set it up this way,” Wonwoo shrugs, but he sends Mingyu an apologetic look anyways. “Anyways, don’t you have your shoot to get to?”

“But I just found him,” Mingyu groans, hands coming to encircle Minghao’s waist as the taller man rubs his nose into the crook of Minghao’s neck. “Now I have to leave?”

“You get to spend the whole night with me Mingyu,” Minghao reminds Mingyu of his ‘prize’ for winning the game.

“This isn’t fair,” Wonwoo complains uncharacteristically. It causes Minghao to smile as Mingyu and him bicker about the rules – citing the fact that Wonwoo was the one who came up with the reward in the first place and he hadn’t complained when he won for the last three rounds – before Seulgi shushes them with an evil glare.

“Alright kids,” Minghao announces, though Wonwoo mutters something about how ‘I’m older than you, you punk’. “Let’s get going, I’ll see you later Mingyu,” Minghao sends the giant puppy off with a sigh and a kiss on the cheek as to not mess up his makeup before turning to Wonwoo. “And you, what kind of concept did they give you today?”

“The usual,” Wonwoo hands Minghao a slip of paper, no doubt filled with instructions on how to do his job. Rolling his eyes as he skims through the note, Minghao throws the paper onto the already messy countertop before reaching over to grab a mist.

“They always think they know how to do my job better than I do,” Minghao mumbles to himself as Wonwoo closes his eyes so the younger boy can apply foundation and little bits of concealer under Wonwoo’s eyes. “Why don’t they get off their stupid asses and do it then?”

“Calm down kitten,” Wonwoo drawls as Minghao picks up a lip tint. He receives a glare at that, though Minghao’s ears turn red and Seulgi bursts out laughing from her spot beside them. The model in Seulgi’s chair however, gasps loudly, eyes wide as she looks at the two. She soon returns to looking at her own mirror however, when Wonwoo turns to make eye contact, eyes serious and questioning.

“Stop scaring people,” Minghao scolds, tapping Wonwoo on the nose gently before beginning to apply the lip tint. “And what did I say about calling me that?”

“Only in the bedroom,” Wonwoo recites, to which Minghao chokes and curses.

“I did _not_ say that,” Minghao flushes as Seulgi bursts out laughing again. “I didn’t, I swear,” Minghao turns to convince Seulgi, though the girl is so far gone with laughter than she doesn’t hear a word he says. “Seriously,” Minghao says, weakly this time, looking at the model in Seulgi’s chair, only to sigh in defeat when he realizes she’s smiling at him too.

“Minghao,” Wonwoo calls as Minghao sulks. “I think you put too much lip tint on me.”

“Fuck,” Minghao’s eyes widen as he leans closer, eyes fixed on Wonwoo’s lips as he tries to swipe some off with his finger. “This is all your fault you know,” Minghao blames withdrawing when Wonwoo’s tongue peeks out to lick Minghao’s hand. “Wonwoo!” Minghao whines embarrassingly. This is why he hated having Wonwoo, Mingyu, or Junhui as his model. They loved to tease him, and never let him do his job properly. Hell, even their game they invented was bothersome.

“Here, how about this?” Wonwoo offers, but before Minghao can ask what he means, the older boy leans forwards and kisses Minghao on the lips. Minghao squeals a bit at that, but Wonwoo’s other hand finds its spot on the square of Minghao’s back and holds him there. Finally, when Wonwoo lets him go, Minghao touches his lips softly, bringing them away to find them tinted the same colour as Wonwoo’s.

“That worked,” Wonwoo says smugly, examining his face in the mirror and nodding. Minghao smacks his shoulder at the sudden gesture, looking around to see if anyone else noticed – though, like always, everyone was too absorbed in themselves to realize that had transpired. Before Wonwoo could say anything else, Minghao grabs the lip balm and applies it over the lip stain, making sure to blend it in smoothly.

The rest of the session goes exactly like Minghao knew it would. With Minghao trying to apply makeup to Wonwoo’s face while the other boy did everything he could to distract, tease, flirt, or straight up fondle Minghao. Finally, when Wonwoo’s face is finished and Minghao has to stop breathing for a while when he realizes one, how much better he was at creating a smoky eye, and two, just how _good_ Wonwoo looked with it on. Wonwoo smirks at Minghao’s expression, winking at the other boy shamelessly before getting up.

“I look that good huh?” Wonwoo grins, preening. Minghao sighs but nods nonetheless, causing Wonwoo to beam with pride. He knew, first hand, that though models knew they were attractive, they also tended to be the ones with the lowest self-confidence. After all, their looks, not their persons, were constantly being compared, ranked, and discussed. Minghao wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up thinking that their face was the epitome of their entire being. So Minghao did his part, encouraging those that sat in his chair with small compliments, not meaningless things like, “you’re so pretty!” but the subtle things that mattered. “You look nice today,” even when Minghao knew they weren’t wearing makeup. “You have a nice smile.” “I like your sense of humour.” “That was really clever.” Things that didn’t equate their looks as being their only asset.

“Thanks Hao,” Wonwoo says softly, as Minghao leans against the counter, resting his tired limbs. Wonwoo looks shy for a second, guilty almost, and stares down at his hands, unable to meet Minghao’s eyes. The other boy rolls his eyes at that however, and reaches over to grasp Wonwoo’s hands in his own.

“You know,” Minghao starts, making sure Wonwoo is looking at him. “It’s not fair that only Mingyu gets to hang out with me tonight. You guys almost never all spend the night, always rushing off to another schedule. And it’s all _three_ of you too, not just one or two. It would be a waste to pass that up don’t you think?”

“Mingyu is going to be sulky,” Wonwoo smiles, a warm glint making its way into his gaze. The previous arrogance is gone, replaced with genuine fondness, and for a moment, though they were still in the hectic environment of the studio, Minghao is reminded of just how soft Wonwoo could be.

“He’s always sulking anyways,” Minghao dismisses. “What’s one more night?”

“You’re going to have to deal with him then,” Wonwoo says, causing Minghao to frown slightly, before the older boy leans over and kisses Minghao’s hair softly. They exchange whispered goodbyes, Minghao’s hand clutching the fabric of Wonwoo’s shirt tightly, before Wonwoo removes it and leaves to get his picture taken.

“When was the last time you saw him?” Seulgi asks a couple of hours later, after the shoot was finished and the cleaning staff was picking up after them. Seulgi and Minghao are sitting at the café across the street of the building, sipping coffee and waiting for Seulgi’s friends to come pick her up.

“Who? Wonwoo?” Minghao asks distractedly, typing out a message on his phone. He looks up to see Seulgi nod, before sighing and taking a sip out of the drink in front of him. “I saw Wonwoo… I think three months ago? At the shoot in Busan. Mingyu was even longer, I remember seeing him at Christmas time, we were both in Tokyo then I think.”

“And Junhui oppa?” Seulgi questions. She fixes the snapback on her head, smoothing her unruly hair. It always got like that, she said, after a particularly stressful day. Though Minghao thought it was fine, Seulgi was always complaining about her hair. It got frizzy, she would state, even more so when it was about to rain.

“A year,” Minghao whispers, a slight pain clenching at his heart. “I didn’t even get to see him today at the shoot.”

“From what I hear he was assigned to a completely different sector,” Seulgi says sympathetically. “You’ll get to see him tonight right? Does he know?”

“He always knows,” Minghao replies with a hint of a smile. He had known Junhui the longest after all, and though Mingyu and Wonwoo had joined their circle, Minghao had always thought Junhui was the most skilled at understanding and figuring out how Minghao worked.

“Wonderful, so you’ll see him tonight, don’t be too down,” Seulgi announces before getting up and stretching. “Anyways, turns out my friends ditched me to go to some club in the next town so I’m just going to walk home, fuck them.”

“Do you want me to walk you home?” Minghao asks, standing up as well. The two take their drinks and exit the café, standing on the side of the street. It was still late afternoon, and the sun hadn’t made it’s way past the horizon yet, but Minghao always worried for his friends.

“I’ll be fine,” Seulgi waves. “I’ll text you when I get home okay? Though I doubt you’ll have time to look at it. You seem to be busy tonight.” Seulgi laughs and wiggles her eyebrows while Minghao punches her lightly.

“Bye,” he waves as Seulgi walks away, throwing a peace sign in the air as she saunters away, before Minghao opens up his messages.

**_ Thongs by sinners – the new Victoria Secret Brand : 4 members _ **

**_Won23:_ ** _where are we meeting up?  
(6:17 PM)_

**_July:_ ** _where do you think?  
(6:24 PM)_

_Hao’s house of course  
(6:24 PM)_

**_itsnotGyuitsme:_ ** _wait junnie you know?  
(6:38 PM)_

**_July:_ ** _ofc I do what were you trying to hide it from me?  
(6:41 PM)_

**_itsnotGyuitsme:_ ** _no I was just curious (_ _゜_ _´Д_ _｀゜_ _)  
(6:41 PM)_

**_August8:_ ** _im coming home r u guys there yet?  
(read 1//6:53 PM)_

**_Won23:_ ** _unfortunately  
(6:55 PM)_

**_itsnotGyuitsme:_ ** _hey!  
(6:55 PM)_

_What’s that supposed to mean  
(6:55 PM)_

_??  
(6:55 PM)_

**_July:_ ** _Hao you might want to charge Gyu for a new lamp because he jumped on ur bed  
(6:57 PM)_

_js  
(6:57 PM)_

**_August8:_ ** _god dammit  
(6:59 PM)_

 

 

“So how did this happen again?” Minghao crosses his arms, standing in the middle of his apartment and glaring down at Mingyu, who was currently on his knees, arms wrapped around Minghao’s legs and begging for forgiveness. The foreign male attempts, to no avail, to shake him off, only to have Mingyu tighten his grip. Minghao looks over at Junhui, who was sitting on the bed, bouncing absentmindedly, and Wonwoo, who had perched on the desk by Minghao’s makeup table, for help but they merely shrugged and laughed at him in response.

“I’m _sorry_ ,” Mingyu practically cries, and it would be pathetic if Minghao wasn’t so in love.

“Alright, whatever, just buy me a new one,” Minghao sighs, tugging at Mingyu’s collar. The other boy – thankfully – gets the memo and stands up, enveloping Minghao in a tight hug before peppering kisses all over the slender boy’s face.

“Hey, that’s not fair! I want me some loving too,” Junhui calls lazily from his spot on the bed. Minghao smiles weakly at him, trying to fend off Mingyu’s barrage of affection, before somehow manouveering them both to fall onto the bed. Minghao lands in the middle, with Junhui scooping him up into his arms, before Mingyu straddles him and runs his fingers up and down Minghao’s clothed chest.

“It’s been too long,” Junhui whispers into Minghao’s ear, hands absentmindedly playing with the younger boy’s hair, before Wonwoo gets up and joins the action as well. Settling down to Minghao’s left side, Wonwoo leans over the two other boy’s roaming hands and places a soft but dominant kiss on Minghao’s lips.

“I still don’t think it’s fair that I have to share,” Mingyu pouts as Junhui shifts over so Wonwoo can join in on harassing Minghao. “I mean, those were the rules! Whoever finds Minghao first gets him for the rest of the day, no ifs ands or buts!”

“Yes, but the rules also say you have to kiss him or mark him in some way,” Wonwoo grins mischievously. “And if I recall I kissed him first.”

“That’s,” Mingyu complains. “Not fair, we were in public and Minghao would have hurt me.”

“Would you?” Junhui leans over, running his fingers over Minghao’s hipbone as he blows air into the younger boy’s air. Minghao lets out a shaky breath, feeling a little too warm at the other male’s ministrations, before blinking hazily. He hated how this was always how things went. One of them, according to their games rules, would always lay first claim, but in the end, everyone would join in. Minghao would be lying though, if he said he wasn’t fond of it. He never liked to leave people out after all, he had too much experience being the third wheel back when he was a kid, but he hated how it was always him at the butt of the joke, or, in this case, being teased.

“Hao, I asked you a question,” Junhui repeats, louder this time. As if on cue, Wonwoo’s hand comes up to tug at Minghao’s hair sharply, causing the younger boy to yelp at the sudden pain. Leaning over, the pain is soon forgotten as Mingyu kisses Minghao’s neck softly, nibbling on it gently but hard enough to leave a mark and cause Minghao’s eyes to flutter shut. “Would you have hit Mingyu?”

“I don’t know,” Minghao whines, arms reaching out to grasp something, _anything_ , when Wonwoo’s mouth latches onto his neck, joining Mingyu in making a ring of bite marks. Before Minghao can follow up with an explanation, Junhui’s hands move lower, caressing Minghao’s pelvis and playing with the fabric underneath. Moaning lightly at the feeling, Minghao falls into Junhui’s grasp completely molding into his side as Mingyu and Wonwoo take over.

Wonwoo pulls Minghao’s shirt up, soon tossing it onto the floor, while Mingyu runs his nails softly over Minghao’s torso. Wonwoo leans down, trailing his tongue over Minghao’s collarbones and occasionally nipping at the skin. Breathing deeply at the feeling, Minghao scrunches his face up, giggling softly at the ticklish feeling of Mingyu’s fingers, before gasping as Wonwoo pulls Minghao’s pants over his ankles.

“Not fair,” Minghao mumbles in between gasping and moaning as someone’s mouth attacks his inner thigh. He hazily glances up at Junhui, the older boy smirking and softly massaging Minghao’s thighs, before weakly tugging on Mingyu’s shirt. “Off.”

“In good time my love,” Junhui grins, leaning over to press a kiss onto Minghao’s lips. “We’ve got all night.”

 

 

Opening his eyes gingerly, Minghao shifts uncomfortably as he sees the moonlight filtering in through his window. Blearily looking around for the time, Minghao spots the clock near his night stand and reads the time. 4:51 AM. Yawning and shivering slightly, Minghao sits up, entangling himself from Mingyu’s grasp, and steps over Wonwoo’s body. Feeling the smooth carpet on his bare feet, Minghao leans over to pick up someone’s sweater – it smells like Wonwoo – before Minghao puts it on and walks to the kitchen.

Stomach grumbling, Minghao wonders idly whether he should fix something to eat or just drink some warm milk before the sound of the toilet flushing distracts him. Looking up towards the direction of the washroom, Minghao holds his breath as Junhui exits the room, dressed in nothing but a pair of boxers that Minghao is sure belongs to Mingyu because they had sailboats on them and only Mingyu would buy cartoon patterned boxers.

“Why are you up?” Junhui says, zeroing in on Minghao immediately despite the other boy being hidden by the shadows. The Chinese male steps closer, drawing Minghao into his grasp when he notices Minghao shivering, before kissing his temple softly.

“Hungry,” Minghao explains. “Or thirsty. I’m not sure yet.”

“Hm, should we order some food then?” Junhui hums, shifting side to side as if dancing to an unheard song. “I found this really good ramen place the other day and they deliver.”

“When were you in Anshan?” Minghao asks confusedly. “And you didn’t contact me?”

“It’s a chain you idiot,” Junhui replies fondly. “A franchise. I tried it in Seoul a couple times. I think Wonwoo introduced it to me.”

“Oh,” Minghao says, sulkily. “You know, usually people are nice and stuff after they cum in my ass two times in a row.”

“After care, I know,” Junhui laughs softly, breath coming out warmly to tickle Minghao’s hair. “Come on, let’s go wake Wonwoo and Mingyu up and ask them if they want any. You can scare them if you want.”

“Do you think Mingyu will scream loud enough to wake the neighbours?” Minghao asks, running to the bathroom in glee to fill up a bucket of cold water – though he belatedly realizes that he’s going to have to dry the sheets by himself later.

“I mean, you didn’t so I doubt it,” Junhui calls as he walks after him. To which Minghao throws a handful of water at him when he arrives at the bathroom. Junhui merely laughs at the flushed colour of Minghao’s ears, before helping Minghao haul two buckets filled with ice water out of the bathroom. Though the four of them would have to separate eventually – for who knows how long – right now was not the time to worry about that. Right now, Minghao grins as Junhui silently counts down, his fingers curling inwards slowly, it was time for a bit of fun.

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone whose still confused about the game that they play, it's basically like this. Anytime Mingyu, Junhui, or Wonwoo are at an event along with Minghao, they see who can find him first (Minghao will either actively try to hide/avoid them or just go about his daily routine). Whoever finds him first has to "claim" him (a kiss will do) and so they get to be with him for the rest of the time they're together (whether that be a couple hours before they go to another schedule or a few days). Though at the end Minghao just gives in and lets everyone be happy together ehe.
> 
> The group name for their chat is based off a true story from yours truly (that was actually the title of my own group chat for a good four months).
> 
>   
> Hope you're smiling!  
> 
> 
>   
> ~ alateni  
> 


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